Slightly Tired Hill Session

I feel a bit tired. I have been at the seaside all day.  I still get out for the Friday hill session though. 5 min warm up, 20 mins up and a jog down, 5 mins warm down.

I feel tired and the pace is probably poor, but session done.

Hills 30:00

Intervals

A summers evening, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1600m, 800m, 400m and finally a 200m race.

A good session.  Second in the 200m race, couldn't catch Pete B on the inside lane.

Intervals

3 Commons Circular Walk Run

After a rainy afternoon the air is fresh.  I only had my dinner an hour ago with the kids so I feel a little bloated.  But I am running well and other than the dinner sloshing around I feel good.  I have the light with me  but it never gets dark enough to use.

I forget to start my watch so no idea of time.  But that's fine.  This runs was all about just getting out there and getting on with it.

8km 45:00

Summer intervals

You know it is summer; it has rained all day.  My wife gets back from the running club and I head out.  Down to Shortlands park.  I decide to run the road side of the park where there are more lights.  I do 10 x 1:25.  I have my shiny new Hyperspeed running shoes.  The are the older model which I liked more than the current model, but as the guy in the shop pointed out they are virtually the same.

I concentrate on driving my knees and I zip along.  I think about some of the drills we do at the track and I start to understand how they relate to good form.  Flicking hills on the bum, skipping, shooshing your feet.

The other thing I think about is what are intervals about?  Get using to the pain of running fast.  And as I run fast I try and think about where I am hurting.  I don't feel pain.  I have an "urge" to slow down but no pain.  I try and override the urge.  I seem to be running fasting.

Intervals 10 x 1:25 with 1 minute recovery.

Berry's Green Circular Walk

I get up early on a Sunday and head for Cudham.  I can't get the GPS to lock but I'm fairly sure of the route round the hills of Cudham and surrounds.

It is beautifully sunny, yet spring fresh.  I run well and feel strong.  I haven't really let myself go to much off the rails after the marathon.  Despite so vicious steep hills I hardly have to walk.  The countryside is beautiful.   I see no other runners and only a couple of road cyclists.

The only point I really stop is on the North Downs way to take in the views of Kent over Westerham.

A beautiful run that leaves me feeling on top of the world.

13.5 miles 1:32:02

Water fountain to water fountain

Bit of me have been aching and I feel tired.  Still, I squeeze the kids into bed and jump into the car for the water fountain to water fountain run.

I start of slow and pick up speed.  I reach the top fountain.  I now know it is downhill the rest of the way.   Like a boulder rolling down hill, I pick up speed until at the end I am flying and all aches and tiredness are a distant memory.

4.5km 23:08

Hill Session

It's been rainy and stuff.  I look at the window and it is raining as I put the kids to bed.  So no hll session tonight.  By the time the little cherubs are asleep, it is bright and clear as can be.

So I go out and diligently run them.  I think at the peak of marathon eagerness I would have squeezed in an extra rep during the designated 20 mins, but tonight I let it go.

Hills Church Hill, 5 mins warm up, 20 mins 5 mins warm down

Synthetic Intervals

I can't run track tonight as my wife is out.  I was going to run at lunchtime with the interval group but work intervenes.  I wasn't expecting to run on the way home but I had brought some kit anyway.  I get the train to Sydenham. I then run 3x7mins with 2 min recovery.  This should approximate to run 3x1mile.  

It's hard running intervals not on the track as there are hills and roads in the way.  I basically do 3 good, hard 7 min efforts.  Not particularly fast as I wasn't feeling the love.  I think this is the kind of running that makes you faster.  Hopefully back to the track next week.

I think the last interval may have been a minute short.  My maths goes to pieces when I am running

Rough Intervals 3x1miles with 2 min recovery

Back from Lewisham a little tired

It's a bit of a struggle back from Lewisham.  But I plug away.  Eventually I reach Beckenham Place Park and skip through the woods.  I drag myself up the hill and then it gets easier.

5 mile 49:59

Back from Crystal Palace

I wasn't planning to run at lunchtime but I did.  I had intended to run to some degree on the way home.  But I still feel up for it.  I decide to get a train to Crystal Palace and run from there.

This time of year I can run through the park.  The park is surprisingly empty but it is beautiful, in full Spring growth.  The rest of the run, is a nice steady but easy run.  Most of it is downhill with a sting in the tail towards the end and then the easy roll down my road..

A nice run, didn't feel tiring.

5.5km 31:36 

Gentle lunchtime pickup

I've been feeling rotten.  Not sure if I am sick or it is an extended hang-over.   I have a cunning plan that maybe a run will make me feel better.  So at lunchtime I slip out.  Nothing spectacular, mind.  I go out, run past Billingsgate round the loop to Marsh Wall and back.

It's probably only 3.5km, but it feels good and I do it reasonably fast.  And I do feel better.

3.5km 18:08

Cat and Canary

I've been getting back on it after the marathon but I fancy the Cat and Canary today.  I resist the racing flats to give my legs a chance.  Unusually I race with music.  About a quarter of the way round I take two runners.  One then sits on my tail.  Round the lake in the park, then suddenly he disappears.  I don't see him again even at the finish.

I take some slower runners and then push on down the canal towards the finish.  Annoyingly my shoelace comes undone.  I have to stop to tie it.

Scott and another runner zip past put then remain in touching distance.  Towards the finish I take another runner.  Then at the finish a fast runner zips past.  But I'm not having it.  Out of nowhere, I pull it together and sprint.  The runner having zipped past me earlier thinks I'm a soft touch.  But I'm not.  I'm a 60m expert :)  I push and he is beaten.  He obviously ran a faster time than me, but on the handicap I won.  A small victory.

In the end the time is good. During the marathon training I had run a massive PB.  This time I was only 10 seconds off that.  I had stopped to do my shoelaces so not sure what effect that had.  I lost time, but obviously had a little rest.

It's very busy this summer stuff, lots of intervals and racing.

5miles 35:42

Back to Track

Back to the track for intervals.  I love the track.  Tonight it is 3 x 1 mles followed by 8x60m.

The miles are hard.  The groups fragment.  I was running reps like this so easily during the marathon training. The first mile I average 1:40 a lap, but the last rep this is out to about 1:46.  The last rep Michael runs it with me and we chat.  It's still light and feels like spring though a little chilly.  It seems miles away from the winter cold.

The 8 x 60 are a different matter.  We are meant to be running them at 70% and I do.  Everyone else streaks ahead.  For the last one  I decide to give it 100% (Just to see what it feels like you see, so I can gauge 70% for next week...)   I edge ahead.  I love the sprints and relish everyone.   Maybe I am fast twitch.  That can be my new excuse.

Intervals 3x1 miles.  1 lap walk/jog recovery and 8 x 60m

Beckenham Relays 2013

It's the Beckenham Relays.  Simple concept: Teams of 3, 2.8 miles looped track.  I am running the 'B' leg.  I wait for my runner, touch hands and head off.  A little way in I realise I have not started my watch, so I start it.

I soon settle in with some similar paced runners.  I take a couple of them.  I end up in a battle with a female runner.  I edge past her on the hill and stay there.  On the turn in to Beckenham Place Park I see my mate Paul marshalling.    I have flash-backs to the dandelion run.

Across the park the female runner bears down on me.  I know if I can hold her to the final hill then I can take her on the hill.  She gets past me before the park ends though.

On the final hill, I gradually reel her in. She sighs as I pass her, and I know she is beaten.  I then focus on catching the next runner.  I am able to sprint past him to the finish.  A good strong finish.

I wish I had timed it, but last year I did 17:58. I think this year it was more like 17:30

Update: 17:27 confirmed

2.8km 17:27?

Wet intervals on my own

I still have bit of a cough and a weird pain on my breast-bone.  I summon up the energy and head out in the pouring rain.  Down to Shortlands Park.  I run 8 x 1:30 (which is probably about 400m)

After a while I adjust to the rain and just bang out the individual legs.  I did plan a jog recovery but that doesn't really happen

This intense running causes the breast bone pain to go away.   To think I wasn't going to run because of it...

Intervals 4x1:30 with 1 minute recovery

Long Run Substitiute

I meant to do a long run yesterday but it wasn't going to happen with the weather and I felt like I had a virus. I wasn't going to take my running kit to work but in the end decided to.

At home time I am fully up for the run home.  The first few miles are hard and then somewhere along the line it starts to feel good.  Really good.  The last few miles are an absolute joy.

It feels good to be back on it.  Work to be done, but good to do a longer run.

9 miles1:18:06

Water Fountain to Water Fountain run

I love having dinner with the kids.  Tonight I round of with a large serving of Rice Pudding and a large glass of white Rioja.  This isn't so good when I come to do my evening run.  I want to get out and catch the light, so I get the kids in bed and head.

My form feels good but my cold is still there.  My shoes also seem to be leaking in water from the slightly damp floor.

Eventually I reach the top water fountain, touch it and head back on the downhill leg.

All I need now is for this code to go away and the weather to pick up

4.5km 23:42

On the mend from a cough

I really want to get back on it, I'm over the post marathon slump.  The only problem is that I have come down with a nasty, nasty cough and cold.  Today I am hung-over, but I want to run.  I have a route round Millwall Docks planned.

At the changing rooms I see Matt.  I tell him that one day we should do the Millwall Dock Route.  Most times he runs the same route.  He heads off.  I get changed and head out.  As I get a quarter way round and the route is shut.  I try and run round it but there is no way.  So I turn round and head the other way.  It's lovely and I am running well.  The marathon may not have gone well, but something about all the training has pushed me on.

Suddenly in the distance I see Matt heading towards me.  I guess he has hit the same road block.  I ask if he minds if we run together.  We head back together.  I love running, but I love running with company.  And we chat.  Given that I am coughy and hungover, the run and company feels really good.

We are soon back at the office.  I shower and then at my desk, the runner's high kicks in.  I'm revelling in my Marathon failure.   Next target, 3 Bridges Relay.

4km 24:03.

Dandelion Run

A 5km run with lots and lots of stop and starting.  Probably took me an hour and half to run the 5km.  That's because it was the Dandelion run.  I know what that means and that is all I will say.

5km 1:30:00

Beckenham Loop on the way back

I've been at a friends lazing in the sun all day, drinking wine and eating cake.  The kids are virtually asleep in the car on the way back so it is a case of putting them into bed.  I toy with getting some beer and vegging further, but the summer short race season beckons.

I put on a simple pair of shorts and a t-shirt and head out.  I decide to instigate a new route, the Beckenham loop.  Down to Beckenham Cinema then back round past Waitrose, past Westgate road before turning back towards my home.

The first part of the run uphill is hard and I am out of breath.  I have had a cold and badly smoked a cigar the other day.  I get some drunken comments from some idiots on the High Street which I ignore.   Then after I pass the cinema, I start to really enjoy the run.  My running form is still good, probably polished by all the marathon training miles.   By the end I am really loving it.

I know there is a sneaky half bottle of chilled wine back at home.  Really glad I went for the run.

5km 31:00

Back on it

I'd decided to take a couple of weeks off running after the marathon.  I even biked to to work.  I have an urge to run and train and push.  But that would be bad.  So a couple of weeks off.  Today I go for a gentle, gentle run down the river towards Wapping.

It felt good.  Ran on some of the marathon route.  I'll come back and do it properly one day.  No tiredness in the old bones or muscles, but I still need to recover and come back stronger and resist the urge.  Next week I think I may run a training cycle I want to burn-in, but do it easy, easy, easy.

4.5km 26:29